Last March, I tuned my truck radio and heard coverage on a lawyer who just passed away after a successful career as an indigenous lawyer from La Ronge, Saskatchewan. It caught my attention because I had spent many years in the north flying lawyers in and out of northern communities to do court in La Ronge.  I thought maybe I knew this lawyer so was intent on listening to the coverage.  The report told of the several books he had written. After retirement, he lived on a trap line with his wife. I remember thinking: that is a great way to retire! One particular book that was mentioned, a synoposis of his life in the Justice System in Canada, was called Peace and Good Order. I obtained the book and have read it now several times.  I gleaned some very interesting and staggering statistics and facts about how the justice system, in his opinion, has failed.  I remember thinking that something is terribly wrong if someone has achieved such a successful law career and then feels it was such a failure.   The cover on Harold R. Johnson’s book summarizes his perspective in this quote: “A retired judge friend said that he was ashamed of his time involved in the justice system.  I, Harold Johnson, also feel this way about my time as both defence counsel and Crown prosecutor: ashamed that I didn’t have the courage to stand up in the courtroom and shout, “Enough is Enough!”   

I really wish I would have learned about Mr. Johnson before he passed away. I would gladly have gone to the trapline to meet with him. I used to do this as a bush pilot. I would go to trappers’ cabins and have tea, bannock and caribou meat with them and their families. They would share with me about the old days and how it contrasted with current times. I think I could have had some very interesting conversations with Mr. Johnson.   I think I could have presented to him a totally different approach to rehabilitation and redemption for the native people and showed to him there is something available that is much better.  

I have done volunteer chaplain services in the correction systems in Saskatchewan for over 30 years.  I was also a Justice of the Peace for 11 years in Northern Saskatchewan.  I have some insight and grave concerns for our justice system and prison systems in Canada and, in particular, with the indigenous people in Canada.  Mr. Johnson sacrificed greatly to get his law degrees so that he could prove an indigenous man could equal any other achiever in the legal profession. He also did it so he could make a contribution in the justice system of Canada for the sake of the indigenous people.   I believe a valuable contribution to all of Canada is his books and especially Peace and Good Order.   It needs to be read by every lawyer, judge and politician serving or overseeing in our Canadian justice system.  We will never fix any problems until we really understand the problems in a system.  It seems to me what most politicians do is political yatter, then try to send more money so everyone will think they did something.  However, money is usually a small part of the answer to most problems.  We need radical action to restore a broken and corrupted justice system and intervention for broken people plagued with hopelessness, addictions and crime.  

I do not agree with Mr. Johnson’s conclusions on everything but his insights into a justice system that is failing in its calling and cause is invaluable. I disagree because we approach matters from totally different views.  I approach issues from a faith-based foundational perspective.  I sift every problem in our society through a biblical analysis whether it is personal or systems like education or justice.  God has given us a book which is simply a manual for life and living in this life is simply preparing for the life to come.  The acrostics for the B-i-b-l-e is Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth. The biggest reason we are in such a chaotic mess today with most institutional systems is because we refuse to look at fixing our problems with solutions different than what we are already using, knowing they don’t work. I am so sick of hearing that for every crisis the government solution is sending more money.  With the recent murders and injuries on the James Smith Reserve by Miles Sanderson, our Prime Minister comes out and offers over 65 million dollars to the reserve.  My 65 million dollar bet is that it will do nothing to help solve problems.  I do not begrudge James Smith getting the money but I would really like to see a detailed audit of the total results in people helped and changed from a life of addictions.  Miles Sanderson, who was responsible for all the heinous murders and injuries, was in our volunteer addiction program at Prince Albert Baptist church in 2019.  He graduated from the first module with over 90% because he knew he had a problem and was doing something about it. It is sad he didn’t continue the program. I will guarantee you that, if the addiction factor had not been present, Sanderson would not have committed those crimes.  His addictions destroyed him and all those he affected. Harold Johnson makes it very clear that addictions are why most indigenous people end up in court and why 95% of them end up in the prison system.  Conclusion: if we do not get some effective intervention happening soon, we will continue to see more violence and destruction.  

When the Covid lockdowns started, we were kicked out of all the correctional facilities and are still not allowed back into some.  In my opinion, this is tragic. We had addiction programs in all the prison facilities in Prince Albert. Then, for the men and women getting out of prison, we had (and have at present) a street program that meets every Friday night so they can get plugged into a follow-up program.  I wish I could say that hundreds of people have become successfully clean and graduated from our program but we cannot.  We have probably helped a few hundred in our over ten years of operation but it is a drop in the bucket to what is needed. Our problem is we do not have enough volunteer workers to do follow-up counselling and a place where people can get into a healthy work environment.  We bought an 80 acre farm for this purpose. The RM of Buckland did not grant us an alternate use permit to operate the farm with 5 beds to start. After proving ourselves with that, then ask for 5 more. Every five years to a total of 25.  The permit was not granted and to date we have no alternative.  There is another ranch we are looking at that is 10 minutes from downtown that would be perfect for what we want to do but we need 1.9 million to purchase the 900 acre property. It takes lots of work to counsel and help people with addiction battles but the reward in seeing a changed life is worth it.  One thing Harold Johnson points out in Peace and Good Order is that there is a lack of programs for people with addictions to attend; it seems jail is the only program they offer.  For me, it seems the government attempts to provide some programs but that almost everything it comes up with end as a total failure and it costs millions. God has the answers. Government solutions will not offer much and they cost more and more every year.  

Johnson makes a statement in his book that is profound. It is what I see happening in many of our institutions today.  He wrote, “Albert Einstein stated that the colloquial definition of insanity is ‘doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result.’”  He continued: “The administrators of law push those boundaries further. We do things over and over knowing we are making things worse while we tell ourselves we are making them better.  We really have to wonder who is more insane, the offender with an injured brain (mental problem) or the administrators of law” (page103).  

Harold Johnson had amazing accomplishments in his lifetime.  Born in Molanosa, he worked at several jobs as logger, trapper and miner.  He decided to go to law school while working as a heavy equipment operator at the Key Lake Uranium Mine.  After acquiring a law degree in Canada, he went on to Harvard Law School and obtained a Master’s degree in law.   So, we ask: how can a person who has accomplished such feats feel like a failure in his purpose?  To me it reveals something is wrong and the first thing we need to do is listen to his plea “enough is enough!” then try to do something about it.  

For sure we have a crisis on our hands in Saskatchewan with crime, drugs, addictions and homelessness that are out of control.  On the cover of Peace and Good Order are Johnson’s insightful words: “This book is my act of taking responsibility for what I did, for my actions and my inaction.”  

I plan to do a few articles on this issue to hopefully make people think and come up with solutions which will bring some change for the better. Hopefully, someone will take up the cause and begin to make some changes to a broken justice system.  This article is my first step doing something for the cause.   If you want to contact me, please contact through our web site at www.pabaptist.ca   

The content of this article is solely the personal opinions of the writer and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Prince Albert Shopper.